Vol. 512 No. 5
21 Mr. Kelleher asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the proposals, if any, he has to encourage greater North-South co-operation; his views on possible areas for joint actions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26346/99]
The Good Friday Agreement provided for the identification of six matters for North-South co-operation between existing bodies. One of these is agriculture under which the issues currently agreed for discussion are CAP issues, animal and plant health, policy and research and rural development.
I am pleased to say that yesterday I met the new Northern Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms Brid Rodgers, for an initial discussion on matters of mutual concern. We agreed to intensify existing co-operation and to establish a more formal framework. It was also agreed that some specific areas merited immediate attention.
As the House is aware, the Good Friday Agreement also provided for the establishment of six North-South Implementation bodies. Three of these are of particular interest in relation to my areas of responsibility:
The Food Safety Promotion Board has responsibility on an island-wide basis for a range of functions in regard to food safety, including promotion and research, the communication of food alerts and the surveillance of food borne diseases. Existing food safety agencies, North and South, will continue to be responsible for inspection and enforcement.
The trade and business development body exercises a range of functions including the promotion of North-South trade and devising new approaches to business development in a cross-border context.
The special EU programmes body exercises managerial functions in relation to new community initiatives under the new round of Structural Funds including Interreg III and LEADER + in which my Department has a special interest.
